The Virgin and the Whore

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

I hung around the Lego section of the Target, until a soft voice I was quite addicted to asked behind me, "Did you find a set you like?"

I turned and grinned at her, happy to see she'd actually put stuff in the shopping cart. "When I was younger, I used to try to do a human anatomy set, starting with a skeleton and adding organs and muscles."

"How did that work out?"

I scrunched my nose, admitting defeat. "Poorly. I'm good at drawing, but I haven't gotten the hang of Lego sculpting just yet."

Esther looked at the boxes behind me, "It could be a fun exhibit, if someone recreated great works of art in Lego."

I knew Lego had their own big constructions in their shops and museum, but I wondered if they'd had something like that anywhere.

"Future art project of yours?"

She shrugged. "I never had Lego. Anyway, I think I should focus on passing my classes before I start a random art project."

"Why? Procrastinating by doing something absolutely useless instead of studying on working on your projects is a college rite of passage," I teased her.

She rolled her eyes at me, and for some stupid reason, it made me all giddy, this ease she had around me. "I'm fine with skipping that one."

"Alright, but once the semester is over, we're coming back here, and you're picking a Lego set," I said, unable to help myself.

So what if I wanted to make plans with her in the future? I wasn't asking her to marry me. I just wanted to make sure that then end of the semester would not mean the end of whatever was beginning to blossom between us, even if it was just friendship she'd be willing to offer me.

"Don't make plans too quickly. Maybe I'll do something wrong and make us fail our final project and then you'll want nothing to do with me," she said, and her tone of voice was just particularly pleasing, and if I was a cat I was pretty sure I would be purring.

And like that was possible.

"If we're failing, it's gonna be because of me, so the Lego set is going to be the least of my peace offerings."

Esther chuckled. The way her eyes shone happily make me feel strange things in my chest. It wasn't exactly unpleasant.

"Let's try not to fail."

"Let's." I agreed. "So? What next?" I asked, gesturing to the rest of the store.

"I think I grabbed everything I needed."

I frowned. "What? So quickly?"

There was stuff in that cart, but not nearly enough to satisfy my need to take care of her. I wanted it overflowing. I wanted to need to push a second cart.

"I don't need much."

"It's really useless to tell you to splurge, right?"

"Right."

I let out a sigh, still smiling at her. Little Mini-Mouse. "Okay. Well, while we're here, might as well grab some food, and then I'll drive you back home."

Home. It was so strange that my home was hers at the moment.

I liked it a bit too much.

I grabbed a few things I thought she might need in the food aisle, with her complaining about it all the while. I was happy she was comfortable enough with me to be vocal.

I was pretty sure it was the kind of thing I'd never take for granted.

Afterwards, I drove her back to my apartment. She was in her head, and quiet at that point, but I didn't push it.